The disclosed device relates to an apparatus and method for filling large quantities of beverage containers for consumption by diners. More particularly it relates to a device for inverting racked glasses use in restaurants and banquets where glasses, cups, or any similar form of containers must be filled with ice, and then a beverage. This is most commonly done at large dinners and banquets requiring the preparation of the water glasses prior to being distributed to customers. Currently, the glass filling process is accomplished by filling one glass at a time with ice and then water, which is very time consuming. One of the reasons for this slow process is the fact that when glasses are washed in racks, they are placed in an inverted position relative to the open tops of the dividers in the racks. Consequently they must be removed and flipped over prior to being filled. While there are some apparatus that attempt to speed this process, they are complicated, expensive and hard to maintain. In the food service industry, cleanliness, limiting waste and speed of delivery, and ease of installation and transport are of the highest priorities.
In the food service industry with the many requirements involved in satisfying the customer, the filling of water glasses would seem to be a minor problem until one realizes it is a full time position for at least one person at large restaurants, and a congestion problem when more than one server is trying to do the same task at the same time at smaller establishments. In this industry it is fully understood that the main grouping of customers will arrive within a relatively short period of time, thereby providing only a limited preparation time especially with regard to a perishable item such as the ice in a water glass. In restaurants it is common practice to individually fill a quantity of water glasses some time in advance of their being served to the customers in order that the time consuming task be avoided during the peak customer period. The task of filling large numbers of water glasses entails the glass being removed from a washing rack in which they are conventionally stored and transported, inverted to place the open end upward, and hand held separately to be filled with ice and then fluid from a tap or a pitcher. Trays of filled glasses may sit for a considerable period prior to being served during which time the ice may melt and the drinking water return to room temperature, also being subject to dust and germ contamination.
With the advent of the new ice machines, the task of filling glasses was made somewhat easier in that ice is made in varying sizes and shapes, and kept at a uniform temperature whereby it will not solidify into larger solid pieces and not require breaking apart to use, and is easily handled in small amounts. In the past, the ice machines did not maintain a uniform temperature, especially being opened and closed often. The breaking up of the ice pieces was an added task to the filling of the glasses.
At the snack bars, sporting events, conventions, banquets, and other similar activities, it is frustrating to wait in line while the server fills one container at a time with ice, then a beverage. A problem with the multiple glass filling devices that are available is that they are very complicated, hard to maintain while others perform one procedure of the process adequately, and leave the other parts of the process to be accomplished manually. When some of these devices are filled with large quantities of ice to fill the glasses, the ice will solidify into one solid piece when not used quickly, requiring the pieces to be broken up manually.
Another problem arises with liquid disbursement when using conventional multiple filling manifold devices since when turned off, the disbursement manifolds do not drain evenly, and will produce an uneven filling of the glasses which are generally filled while multiple glasses are held in a rack. This uneven filling often requires the tipping of the very heavy rack and holding the glasses to equalize the amount of liquid within, limiting their usage mainly to the filling of water glasses where spillage does not involve product loss.
When using beverages in a multi-glass filling device, the task of cleaning the complicated mechanisms is also much too time consuming. In the food service industry, almost all equipment used in the serving of food and related products are constructed of stainless steel and must be kept very clean, which adds a great deal to their purchase costs. Some prior art attempts to address these issues but has not solved them.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,740 of Robert W. Chermack describes a dispensing apparatus for filling drinking containers. A dispensing apparatus for filling a plurality of drinking containers positioned in predetermined locations on a tray dispenses ice, water or both. The apparatus has a storage hopper for containing a supply of ice, the hopper having a discharge opening at the bottom which communicates with a gate for controlling the flow of the ice from the discharge opening. A plurality of generally upright chutes is positioned below the gate and extends from the gate to the receiving chamber near the base of the apparatus. In use, the tray and drinking containers are positioned in the chamber and receive the ice from the chutes, the outlet of each chute being positioned over one of the drinking containers. This apparatus described maintains a series of rollers to distribute the ice to the chutes, which if not refrigerated will let the ice solidify into larger pieces, requiring breaking up manually. Also, the turning of ice in this manner is used effectively in ice-cream machines to intensify the localized cooling, causing additional problems. Furthermore, this apparatus employs a slanted bottom to equalize the overflow of the water in the glasses produced by uneven dispensing, insuring that this apparatus would not be effectively useable in dispensing any other liquid beverage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,270,584 of Marinus W. van Lieshout teaches of a method and apparatus for continuously filling and dispensing large numbers of cups with beverages, such as beer. This method is a simple down flow manifold system, with problems arising when a pressurized beverage is dispensed and the quantities are not evenly distributed. Any ice put in the glasses for beverages other than beer would need to be put in at another location.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,295 of Steven D. Nutter discloses a device for equally filling a plurality of containers. Described is a device for equally filling a plurality of containers, including a primary distributor disc having a top inlet and a plurality of bottom outlets equally spaced from the top inlet, and equally spaced around the primary distributor disc, a plurality of secondary distributor discs, each having a top inlet and a plurality of bottom outlets equally spaced from the secondary distributor disc top inlets and equally around the secondary distributor disc, a plurality of equal fluid conducting pipes, one for connecting each of the outlets of the primary distributor disc to the inlet of one of the secondary distributor discs, and a filler hose connected to each of the outlets of the secondary distributor discs and extending downwardly to one of the containers of the plurality of containers. Along with the requirement of being absolutely level, the only thing harder than reading this last sentence/paragraph would be cleaning this device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,293,757 of Tomoyuki Nashio describes a highly mechanized ice dispenser with the capability of filling the glass with water. This dispenser retains a great volume of ice pieces requiring some form of refrigeration. Here again is a very involved machine, difficult to clean and maintain, along with the fact that it uses a downward flowing manifold distribution for the water producing an uneven flow to the glasses.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,811,604 of Elmer L. Perry discloses a liquid dispensing device for simultaneous filling of a tray of drinking glasses. Multiple valve stems seat within discharge orifices with the stems urged upwardly to an open position by a cam or solenoid actuated plate. Spring means seats each valve stem downwardly to a closed position. Diversion means divert a trough carried water flow into multiple recessed areas of an equal size for the collection therein of an equal volume of liquid which is subsequently discharged into each glass. This form of transporting a liquid in an open trough beneath working mechanisms would allow that metal particles and debris from natural wear would have the opportunity to fall into the trough area. Troughs are not recommended to transport potable water. This complicated device does not define any method for inserting ice into the glasses.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,972,886 of David T. Bernstein teaches of an ice distribution system comprised of a light weight, hand carried ice distribution tray which functions in conjunction with a plurality of glasses, or other drink receptacles. This tray is comprised of a series of funnels which isolate the glass area so that the liquid or ice entering the glasses only, and not around the outside of the glasses. Although the glasses are filled in this manner, there is no metering ability to control the volume of ice or water, leaving only the standard method of tipping the tray to equalize the level of the glasses.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,732,903 of John E. Oates describes a device for the delivery of liquids into containers. The invention provides a simple device for quickly delivering an equal predetermined volume of a liquid simultaneously into each of a plurality of identical containers. The invention consists of a tray of a predetermined volume with a plurality of orifices to distribute the liquid into the containers. No control in the opening of the orifices means that the liquid entering the tray will go into the closest orifice first, thus not giving an equal volume in each container. Again it is not an acceptable practice to use an open trough or tray to distribute liquids, in that if it is left for a period of time between fillings, the tray will be open to contamination
U.S. Pat. No. 2,447,281 of Herman Schnier teaches of another open tray type multiple container filling device, not an acceptable practice for filling beverage as in water glasses.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,393,716 of Zygmunt Olson describes a multiple drink mixer and dispensing device, in which the drink ingredients are each received in a separate compartment, then mixed in one compartment, and finally a multiplicity of mixed drinks are then dispensed simultaneously. This invention does not relate in any way to the filling of water glasses or other like containers with ice and a single liquid.
As such, there is a pressing need in the food service industry to simplify and expedite the tasks involved with large scale beverage preparation required in giving quick service to the customers at restaurants, conventions, and banquets and the like.
The above problem and others are overcome by the disclosed unique simple processing apparatus of preparing and filling beverage containers. Two devices are used for the rotating, inserting ice, and filling glasses, cups or other like containers, with ice and a beverage. The devices in combination are the current best mode of the accomplishing the operation, however, either used alone would also significantly enhance the process of filling glasses with either ice or a beverage and consequently use of either device separately is anticipated for the enhancement of the preparation of the water glasses with ice at restaurants, banquets, and in the food service industry.
When the glasses come from the dishwasher, they are in a conventionally divided rack with the bottom of the glass up. The glasses in such divided rack are also generally stored and transported while inside the racks. To fill the glasses they must be inverted into another rack before being filled with ice and water to be dispersed to the customers. A first device of the system herein disclosed accomplishes this inversion process with a simple manual inversion using the standard rack of glasses right from storage or the dishwasher. In flipping the glasses, the rack with the bottom sides up is placed in the bottom cavity of the inversion device and an empty conventional rack placed above it. Both racks slide into separate cavities which position both racks in a registered position to each other with glass opening to opening. When the inversion device is rotated slowly, it allows the upside down glasses to slide to the second rack and into the open side up position in the adjacent rack. Slow rotation is the current best mode so the rapid rotation of the inversion device is prevented by a restriction clutch on the rotation shaft or other conventional dampening apparatus which restricts the speed of rotation of the inversion device.
As noted above, the inversion device by itself is a major improvement in the art of manipulation of glassware for filling and could be used by itself to yield a great improvement in efficiency.
In a second step if used in combination with a filling unit herein disclosed, once the glasses are positioned in the second rack from the rotation of the inversion device, that rack of glasses in the open side up position is removed from the inversion device and placed into the frontal opening of the preparation and filling unit. The filling unit consists of a stainless steel box-like structure with side walls and a bottom with a drain for attachment to a sewer or other drain, and a sliding means such as a set of rollers whereby the glass rack, full up upright glasses, is slid to the back of the unit through the frontal opening. This unit may be self-supporting on attached legs or may be made without legs for positioning on an existing table. To one side is pivotally attached a shelf for supporting the third component of the system which is the ice tray adjacent to the side opening that the ice tray slides through. The ice tray is best used as part of the entire system, however it could be used separately to enhance the filling of glasses with ice which are upright in trays. There are tracks at the front and back of the unit for the ice tray to slide across on to a registered positioned over the glasses. On the model with the attached legs this shelf would pivot down for storage when the unit is not in use. The unit has a cover that pivots up for access and down to enclose the internal area. The cover houses the beverage dispensing manifold attached to a flexible source connection, as in a water line when filling water glasses.
The ice tray consists of a stainless steel tray with a plurality of openings which are best shaped conical tapered openings, that center on and register with the openings of the glasses in the rack. Beneath these conical openings is a stainless steel flat slipsheet also having a plurality of openings matching the disclosed tray openings which slide to a closed position with the opening passages in the ice tray closed off by the slipsheet. When the slipsheet is pulled forward to a filling position, the alignment of all the openings register with all the openings in the ice tray to allow the passage of a metered volume of ice to pass into the glass.
In use, the operator will manually spread a thin layer of ice over the ice tray, covering the complete area while the tray is resting on the side shelf. The tray is then manually slid over the preparation and filling unit with the glasses in the rack below with the tray openings registering with the glasses. The slipsheet is then pulled forward to allow the ice in the conical tapered openings to drop into each glass in substantially equal amounts. The ice on the flat surfaces remains on the ice tray and after the slipsheet is repositioned, the ice tray may be jogged back and forth so that the ice on the flats, falls into the conical tapered openings to be put in the next rack of glasses. A similar ice tray may be used with conical tapered openings without the slipsheet that requires the operator to raise the cover of the preparation and filling unit, containing the filling manifold to insert the ice into the glasses through the ice tray openings. After the ice has been inserted into the glasses the tray is removed to the side and the lever on the manifold valve is turned on.
The beverage passes through a simple controlled orifice manifold whereby each glass is filled equally and the manifold may be drained by simply pushing a release button with the remnants diverted to the side, not falling into the glasses. The beverage is kept retained by a valve until released under pressure to fill the manifold, whereupon the small tubular members protruding upwardly from the manifold and then curved down to align with the glasses in the rack below are filled. When the valve is turned off the pressure in the manifold is released and the beverage in the small tubular members is stopped from flowing, filling all the glasses evenly. This is due to the upward curve in the tubular members and liquid seeking the same level. This manifold incorporates quick disconnects so that each segment may be removed for easy cleaning. In some cases the operator may choose a manifold with downward projecting filling orifices releasing the beverage directly in to the glasses. This is an option to the system and can be changed easily with the quick disconnects on the manifolds.
By watching through the opening for the ice tray in the unit, the first row of glasses is visible so that the operator may determine when to turn off the beverage. After filling the rack containing the prepared glasses, the operator may remove the rack for disbursement or the rack may be left in the unit in a covered sanitary environment. This unit may also be constructed whereby the racks enter from the side on a conveyor roller system and the ice tray enters from the front. The glass rack opening of the preparation and filling unit protrudes to the front of the device and the opening is large enough so that in the event the glasses were filled unevenly the glass rack may be tipped to attain an even filling of the glasses.
Accordingly, it is the object of this invention claimed herein to provide a simplified processing system whereby ice and beverage may be prepared in quantity and kept in a sanitary environment.
It is another object of this invention to supply a processing system that is operated manually, requiring no power hook-up.
It is still another object of this invention to supply a processing system that can be quickly disassembled for cleaning and just as easily reassembled.
It is still another object of this invention to supply a processing system occupying a minimum amount of floor space.
It is still another object of this invention to supply a processing system that cannot only be used to prepare and fill a quantity of water glasses, but also any of the other beverages used by snack bars and restaurants.
This procedure accordingly comprises the features of the construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts that will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth in the specification, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims